Bring me more iced tea
by Ellana17
Summary: A three-part story on Sharpay and Kelsi's last year at East High
1. You are the (true) music in me

**YOU ARE THE (TRUE) MUSIC IN ME**

Kelsi was humming along as she played the piano during her lunch break. She really ought to study for her exams, being in her final year of high school and all. Taylor and Gabriella even had suggested she joined their study group but music had always been important to the girl, more important than school work anyway, and aiming for Julliard meant that she could not afford to cut out any of her practice time.

Any attempt to study would be fruitless anyway, she thought bitterly as All I want for Christmas is you slowly turned into the melody she had been working on for a few weeks. She did not fight it, she had done fighting her feelings – at least for the time being – and let her hands wander over the keys. She mouthed the lyrics as she played.

That melody would not leave her alone. It was constantly nagging at her, urging her to play and to write down every single variation on any piece of paper she could find as inspiration struck.

Inspiration would particularly strike while she was in class, and more precisely when she was sitting behind a gorgeous blonde who had a bit of a passion for drama.

During their summer at Lava Springs, Kelsi had thought that finally, finally, her crush was dead for good. She had been crushing on and off for the past three years and after all that time she found it simply exhausting. However she had had to resign herself when even Ryan had called her out on her crush on Sharpay.

Sharpay. Of all people. That summer was not something she liked to think about.

Kelsi could not explain that crush- Actually she could, she just decided on a regular basis not to. Sharpay was passionate, that was what Kelsi liked the most about the girl. Sometimes Kelsi wished Sharpay would be that passionate about her.

Sharpay loved what she did – singing, dancing – and she was amazing at it. She was well aware of that fact of course, and that could be a major flaw in her character at times. Sharpay loved to get all the attention and she was really good at getting it. She had been getting Kelsi's attention for a few years after all. Too bad that was not actually the kind of attention she was looking for. No, Sharpay was more interested in people like Troy.

Kelsi liked Troy, he had become one of her really good friends, along with Gabriella, Taylor and Chad. She loved writing songs for Troy and Gabriella, they had the kind a chemistry that was a true blessing for any musician, the type of chemistry composers would look for their entire lives. They loved each other, anyone could see it – and even hear it. Kelsi just wished Sharpay would see it too and drop it.

Of course Kelsi's judgment on the matter was a little biased. No, she was not bitter about it. Not at all.

Gabriella had been one of the first to notice Kelsi's crush and had been so nice about it all, trying to give her advice or simply listening to Kelsi talk about Sharpay on and on even though Gabriella was not particularly fond of the blonde.

Then there was Ryan. Kelsi and Ryan had always been friends, talking about music and singing together at times but they had bonded on a new level during their summer at Lava Springs. Ryan had been hesitant about confronting her about her feelings for his sister but he desperately needed to talk to someone about his own unrequited love. They had bonded over their situations and played sad songs on the piano all night long.

Kelsi wrote down the next part of what she had starting to call Sharpay's ballad. It had nothing to do with the kind of pop songs Sharpay was usually so fond of but it fitted the blonde on a much deeper level. It may be slow but the melody was rich and so passionate at times that it allowed the singer's voice to reach its full potential and convey every single emotion Kelsi was feeling at the moment: confusion, sadness, love. At least, Kelsi hoped that the song would be as good as she imaged it. She knew Sharpay's voice well enough by now, Kelsi knew exactly how to make it sound amazing.

Kelsi was smiling dumbly at her sheet music when Sharpay walked into the room like she owned it.

o

The rustle of paper caught Sharpay's attention just in time for her to see Kelsi trying to hide something behind the sheets that were resting on the music stand in front of her. Sharpay rolled her eyes; Kelsi probably did not want her to see the new song she had especially composed for Troy and Gabriella. Huh. Those two were sickening and Sharpay did not know what she found most irritating, the way they both acted or the way everyone around them seemed to marvel at how cute they were together.

Kelsi always wrote her best songs for Troy and Gabriella. It was not that Sharpay was jealous. Not at all. She just wished that sometimes Kelsi would write Sharpay's songs with the same level of commitment.

Sharpay casually sat down on the stool next to Kelsi. She immediately noticed that the girl perceptibly tensed and that alone was enough to pique Sharpay's curiosity. The blonde swiftly reached for the piece of paper and Kelsi immediately started to protest, trying to bat Sharpay's hand away but Sharpay was too quick. She grabbed the sheet and looked down. She did a double take, looked up to Kelsi and noticed that the girl had gone completely quiet and that her face was suddenly impossibly white. Sharpay looked down again.

It was not a duet as Sharpay had originally thought. No, the song had clearly been written for a single person, a woman, and – trying not to look too much into it – Sharpay could have sworn it was written in a tone that perfectly matched her own voice.

At first glance, Sharpay noticed that the song was clearly incomplete, probably just a first draft. Some parts had been crossed-out, some parts had been written over, whole sentences or just a few words had been hastily added all over the piece of paper. From what Sharpay could see, the song looked amazing. She would need to try it out of course but she was convinced it already had great potential.

She glanced at the top left corner of the sheet and found exactly what she needed. The last piece of the puzzle. Her own name had been written on the sheet of paper.

Sharpay's heart seemed ready to jump out of her chest. When she looked up, Kelsi had dropped her gaze to her lap.

"Could you-" Sharpay cleared her throat. "Could you play it?" she asked quietly. "Please," she added as an afterthought.

Kelsi looked up so quickly it even made Sharpay feel dizzy. The girl was genuinely surprised by Sharpay's request and the blonde vaguely wondered if Kelsi really thought her that much of a jerk.

Sharpay gave her a tiny nod of encouragement and Kelsi finally lifted her hands to the keyboard and started to play. Sharpay closed her eyes a second and let herself be transported by the melody. Kelsi had obviously been tensed at first but now Sharpay could feel all tension leave the girl as she played. After she started humming, Sharpay opened her eyes and began to sing along, keeping up the right pace for once. That seemed to surprise Kelsi more than anything else.

Sharpay had to admit that it was a really good song. She would even go as far as calling it beautiful. The blonde felt herself blush as she realized that it almost sounded like they were singing it to each other. It might as well be the case, after all Kelsi had clearly written the song for Sharpay.

Sharpay realized that she did not mind one bit. She actually was looking forward to hearing the song once it would be completed.


	2. Brother and sister

**BROTHER AND SISTER**

Something was seriously wrong with Sharpay. That much Ryan could tell even if his prime focus at the moment was the dark haired basketball player sitting across the cafeteria. His sister had been acting strangely for days now. First, she had stopped snapping at him during rehearsals (she only just snapped at him before those nowadays), she had not talked – complained – about Troy and Gabriella in a while _and_ she had not mentioned stealing their duet again. Something was dreadfully wrong and Ryan fully intended to find out exactly what.

Ryan was scrutinizing his sister, trying to find exactly what had happened to her to bring about such a change. Maybe if he focused enough he would manage to read her mind.

A second passed.

No such luck. Ryan sighed, took a sip of his drink… and promptly choked on it as he saw Sharpay smiling – _smiling!_ – at someone across the cafeteria. When the water in his eyes cleared off and he could breathe again, Ryan saw Kelsi sitting down next to them. Oddly enough, she took a seat right next to Sharpay and the blonde looked happy about it – not just satisfied or whatever emotion Sharpay was usually experiencing. No, she seemed genuinely happy about it.

Well.

That was unexpected.

o

Ryan managed to corner his sister after their drama class. She let out a small squeak as he grabbed her arm and led her (mostly) out of earshot.

After his epiphany at lunch, Ryan had thought back on his sister's strange behavior these past few days and had concluded that every time Kelsi had been in her vicinity, Sharpay had been nicer than usual. She was still a jerk most of the time tough.

"Let me go this instant," she half-yelled half-whispered.

Ryan rolled his eyes but let go of her arm. "What's the deal with you and Kelsi?" he asked, decided not to beat around the bush.

"What do you mean?" Sharpay crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. "I don't know what you're talking about," she added and – ah, ah! – that was totally a flinch right there. Oh, he was so on to her.

"I'm talking about you and the cute composer of our school musical," he stated, trying not to sound too smug.

Sharpay squared her shoulders resolutely. "What about her?" she asked steadily.

Ryan tried not to let his surprise show as he realized that maybe Sharpay herself had no idea what was going on. Well, that changed things.

"You seem to get along really well lately. I mean- more than usual. Is it your new plan to get the leading role in the play?"

"Of course not!" Sharpay exclaimed. She turned around as if to check that no one could hear them.

"Could have fooled me," Ryan insisted – amused by her excessive reaction.

"And why would I explain myself to you anyway?" she asked scornfully.

It was time to calm the game. "Okay, okay," he tried to soothe her. "Sharpay, relax, I was just fooling around, it's okay if you don't want to talk about your feelings just yet."

But she did want to talk about it, Ryan could see it clearly. All her feelings were boiling just below the surface.

"She wrote me a song," she said so quietly that Ryan thought he had misheard her for a second.

"She wrote songs for all of us, it's a musical," Ryan underlined.

"No, I mean-" Sharpay said quietly. Ryan had never seen his sister so hesitant before. "She didn't want me to see it, it's actually not part of the play. It's- It's a beautiful song."

"Oh," Ryan blurted out. "That's good."

"But what does it mean?" Sharpay straight up whined. Ryan blinked at her. "I thought it was a new song for Troy and Gabriella you know," she explained and Ryan nodded along. "But then I look at the page and suddenly I find out that she actually wrote a song for _me_ and I don't know why," she concluded with a gracious wave of her arms.

Ryan knew how much his sister hated not being in the know.

"What was it about?" he asked. "The song, I mean."

Ryan could have sworn he saw Sharpay's face flush a bit but it could as well have been a trick of the cheap light in the corridor. She tried to act as nonchalant as ever and she might have fooled anyone else but not Ryan. He knew his sister too well. She mumbled something about a light and finding your way home and not being alone and other nonsense that Ryan could not quite decipher but that right there was clearly a love song.

Of course he could not tell Sharpay, he had promised Kelsi to keep her secret after all but this was just getting ridiculous. He could clearly see that they were both miserable. Why could he not help them? Kelsi was his friend but Sharpay was his sister. He had promised not to interfere but he would be helping them both, right?

He would have to find another date to prom of course, but they both knew they were going together partially because they could not go with the person they really wanted.

Ryan took a deep breath.

He was so dead.


	3. Just a girl with a ukulele

**JUST A GIRL WITH A UKULELE**

Sharpay was pacing. She did not usually pace but the current situation required it very much. Maybe she should have brought a ukulele after all.

After much coaxing on Ryan's part (he was apparently sick of hearing her humming Kelsi's song on and on) and his word that _yes, Kelsi was interested, now just go ask her to prom!_ Sharpay had finally decided to go with it. But now she was freaking out more than before any of her show.

Sharpay went over what she intended to say once more. She had spent more time than necessary warming her voice and she had ran out of things to do in order to delay the inevitable.

Sharpay squared her shoulders, and fluffed her hair. Rehearsal had just finished and Kelsi was still there, trying to gather all her sheet music into a neat pile. Probably sorting them out by order of appearance. It was probably not a good idea to disturb her now, what if Kelsi mixed the sheets up? The whole musical would be ruined because of Sharpay. The blonde shook her head, took a deep breath and tried to ignore the fact that Ryan was just behind her, urging her to go talk to the girl.

"All right, I'm going," she hissed as he pushed her on the stage. She straightened her jacket and walked to Kelsi. The girl startled when she saw Sharpay's face popping from behind the piano.

Sharpay leaned on the piano. "How's it going?" she asked and internally cringed.

"There's still so much to be done, and the show is just in a few weeks. Oh, and I've been working on your song for the play today and Ryan had a great idea for your grand finale and-"

"Kelsi," Sharpay cut in and the girl startled. "I really need to ask you something and-"

"It's about the song, isn't it? You don't like it? I'm sure I can improve it but I've been working so hard on everything else lately," Kelsi rushed out.

Sharpay pinched the bridge of her nose. She just knew Ryan was laughing his ass off backstage. She wondered if it was too late to bring out the ukulele.

"The song's great! I love it," Sharpay snapped.

Kelsi seemed to deflate all of a sudden and Sharpay cursed her own short temper. They stared at each other silently for a moment until Sharpay decided to just go with it. She was Sharpay Evans after all, she could do this.

"You're going to prom, right?"

 _What?_

Kelsi blinked. "What?" she asked. "Well yeah, but-"

"Great," Sharpay cut in. "We should totally go together."

"I thought you weren't going to prom?" Kelsi underlined.

Sharpay waved her hand. "I've changed my mind," she told her.

"Huh, you do know I'm going with your brother, right?" Kelsi asked. "I'll work on your song anyway, you don't have to-"

"Kelsi," Sharpay cut in. "I'm trying to ask you to prom," she emphasized, praying to anyone who might listen for Kelsi to understand.

"Oh," Kelsi let out. "You mean-"

"Yeah," Sharpay croaked out.

"Oh," Kelsi said again. They stared silently at each other and Sharpay had to stop herself from fidgeting under Kelsi's searching gaze. "Okay then," Kelsi answered at long last.

"Okay?" Sharpay parroted and Kelsi smiled, nodding. "Oh, great," Sharpay exclaimed. "See you then- Well, no, we'll see each other before that obviously," she backtracked.

Now Kelsi was struggling not to laugh. "We could go over your song again if you want?" she suggested.

"Hold that thought," Sharpay told her as she took a few steps back. "Ryan!" she called out. "Find yourself another date to prom!"

They heard a peal of laughter from behind the curtain where Ryan was hiding. "Ouch," he exclaimed as someone punched him in the arm. Who _was_ with him?

Kelsi shook her head with a fond smile.

"So, tell me about that grand finale," Sharpay said.

 **THE END**


End file.
